r/spinalcordinjuries

I'm going from a manual to a power chair and get to deal with the horrors of shopping for my first van and need advice on which makes/models are the most reliable when buying secondhand.

In my budget I could get an older Toyota/Honda, or newer Dodge/Chrysler. I prefer Toyotas, but could only afford one a few years newer than my current car. My current '09 venza is on its last legs and getting a Toyota only a few years older makes me a bit nervous. I could instead get a 2018 or maybe newer for less if I went with a Dodge or Chrysler.

Not sure which to go with honestly from the research I've done it seems people are pretty evenly split between Toyota and Chrysler.

Ideally getting a braun conversion and fold out ram. What's everyone's opinions?

I’m so pent-up and I don’t know how to get rid of this energy. I want to get out of my chair and run until my lungs hurt!!! I can’t even clench my hands anymore.

I’m full of anger, frustration and overwhelming sadness and I want to let it all out. I just don’t know how to.

Question for the guys. Cervical incomplete, everything from my chest down works enough and mostly full sensation except my hands and arms don’t work well. Being that I’m almost 40, the two round things between my thighs are a little bit bigger and sag a little more than they used to. Any tricks you guys have to kind of adjust I don’t know something that I could hold and put up my pant leg of my shorts? Sitting in the wheelchair all day in this summer heat is getting uncomfortable with them getting stuck further back than they should be. I can stand up with a walker for a minute or two, but it doesn’t seem to be doing the trick.

Participants must present with a complete or incomplete AIS B traumatic spinal cord injury, located between the C4 and T10 levels. The maximum time elapsed since the injury is 42 days for the subacute phase and 5 years for the chronic phase.

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06841770

I’m reaching out because my family is going through one of the hardest times of our lives, and I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has been through something similar.
About a week ago, my father and I were involved in a serious car accident. Alhamdulillah, my sister and I escaped with bruises, but my father suffered a severe spinal injury.
He underwent Posterior Thoracic Fixation (T2–T9) with T5/T6 decompression. The surgery was successful, but he is still in the ICU.
Since the injury and surgery, he has been having difficulty with his lungs and breathing, so he is currently on breathing support. His bowel function has also been affected, and we’re taking things one day at a time.
This has been an incredibly frightening experience for our family. If anyone has had a loved one go through a similar spinal injury and ICU recovery, I would really appreciate hearing about your experience.
How long did the breathing issues take to improve?
Did bowel function eventually return?
What was the ICU recovery like?
Is there anything you wish you had known during those first few weeks?
We’re trying to stay hopeful and take each day as it comes. Please keep my father in your prayers. May Allah grant him complete healing and strength. Ameen.

Hi everyone, I'm not sure where to ask this question but I'm hoping someone on this reddit might have relevant experience and maybe suggestions.

I have damage in my lower thoracic and upper lumbar spine which affects the function of my GI system (among other things). Primarily I have some sensation and motility loss that I have to manage with meds and physio.

I've noticed since my injury that I often get mild flu or cold like symptoms (sore throat, swollen under arm lymph nodes) when I'm over tired or have overexterted myself, but they resolve once I rest and it never turns into an actual illness. More recently I've developed a painful skin rash in my underarms that comes for a few days then and goes away for about a week then comes back, sometimes with swollen lymph sometimes not - I've never had eczema or a skin condition before. I haven't changed any personal products or diet. My doctor told me based on just a quick visual check that it's a bacterial infection, but it keeps going away and coming back on its own.

Here's my question - since the digestive system is a big part of the immune system, could my spinal damage be causing my immune system to go haywire? Does any one else have any similar experience since their SCI?

F20, C5 incomplete asia B as a result of a spinal stroke on the 4/1/2026.
I presented no symptoms before my stroke, I woke up that day with a lot of pain on my neck, I thought I had slept on it weird but after getting up to get some ice and going back to bed, the pain just got a lot worse and I started feeling very weak… I was completely alone in London in my uni accommodation when I started to lose movement in my legs. I was so scared and after a lot of googling I decided to call an ambulance.

The paramedics arrived and I explained everything I was feeling, but I feel like they were not taking me seriously since they just dismissed my symptoms as a panic attack! (I explained I have had panic attacks before and they felt nothing like this, also there was no trigger for a panic attack, I had just woken up!)

They made me stand up and walk with them to the ambulance, I was wobbling so much that they had to hold me as I walked. When we got to the hospital they asked me to stand up again so that I could walk to A&E, I told them I couldn't stand up and they didn't believe me, so they pulled me up again, both of them holding me by each arm. I was shouting that I couldn't walk and I was going to fall, when they let go of me I fell on the floor of the ambulance. It was such a traumatic experience.

After a lot of tests and scans and a week in ICU they finally figured out that I had had a spinal stroke, but to this day they don't know what caused it.

As of right now I am in the spinal rehabilitation centre, doing physio and OT every day. I have limited function on my hands and I can move my arms, but from my chest down I have no motor function.

This is the hardest thing I have ever been through, I completely lost my independence and sense of identity. I was a nursing student just living my life, and now I have lost it all. Having to grieve the life we had before our injury is just so cruel.
I’d say i’ve been coping relatively well with everything (probably thanks to the 50mg of sertraline i take daily lol), but sometimes i feel like it hasn’t fully set in, like it’s all just a bad dream and i just have to wake up.

I wanted to ask if there’s anyone with a similar injury to mine and what your experience has been like, and if anyone has any advice for me.
I really want to go back to uni, but i won’t be able to finish my nursing degree :(
Do you guys work? study? what do you do? How has recovery been for you guys?

Im a T10 Spinal Cord Injury and i deal with a lot of nerve pain very frustrating feels like i am on fire i take gabapentin 900 mg 3 times a day and it sounds like a good amount but i dont think its working. What ways do you guys find in helping with nerve pain.

I’ve been in the hospital for several days now battling autonomic dysreflexia again. This time, I’ve been dealing with severe overheating, and it’s been absolutely miserable.
My doctor wants to send me to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. It really sucks, but I’m hopeful they’ll be able to help me better understand how to live with this condition and manage it more effectively. It’s been a really rough road.
When I got here by ambulance, my blood pressure was incredibly high. They were able to get it down with IV antihypertensive medicine 200/100
I didn’t even think that was possible

Hello everyone! I'm new here on Reddit and want to make friends with any of you/all of you!!! I'm 32 years old. I have been paralyzed from my chest down since 12/19/23, so I'm going on 31 months now I think. And I do want to ask as a question to go with my introduction, how do you get out of a really bad depression? Like I've been depressed going through this, but a couple nights ago I had a really bad depression hit me. It was like a demon attached to me or something. I was googling 'will I go to hell if I kill myself' because I'm Catholic and am scared of going to hell. I was all in ready to delete myself, but then my cat started meowing really loud, and looked at me for a couple seconds then jumped up in the bed, and laid on my chest. It probably saved my life actually. She (Coco is her name) just laid on me, and purred. She never once jumped up in my bed not a single time since I became paralyzed. So it took my thoughts of deletion completely away, it was really beautiful. So how do you guys deal with that sinking feeling? Especially when it gets that bad?

I’m a C5/6 quadriplegic and wondering what questions you would recommend asking. I know almost nothing about the process of getting a colostomy, I just know that I’m so so tired of spending so much of my life doing bowel programs.

What questions should I ask? Is there anything you wish you would have asked before you went into it?

Thanks in advance!

Necesito consejo y desahogarme.
Soy una chica de 32 años, tengo dos hijos y un esposo, vivo en un país del caribe.
Estaba embarazada cuando me iniciaron unos calambres, mi doctora se lo achacó a compresión del nervio ciático por el mismo embarazo, luego me empezó a dejar de funcionar una pierna, me hicieron una resonancia en la que me diagnosticaron un tumor que estaba comprimiendo la médula y me fracturo la vértebra T8.
Me hicieron cesárea de emergencia, laminectomia descompresiva, embolizacion del tumor y fusión vertebral desde T6-T10.
Dure 15 Dias en intensivo, 15 Dias de internamiento y ya estoy en casa.
Me diagnosticaron paraplejía T7 ASI A ya hace casi 3 meses.
Estoy asistiendo a terapia física hospitalaria 2 veces por semana y 2 veces por semana en casa, 1 hora al día.
Actualmente siento las piernas presion, pero no dolor ni temperatura, no las muevo, no tengo control de esfínteres, uso sonda vesical.
Estaba estudiando en la facultad me dieron dos años para recuperarme y poder reintegrarme.
Ese es el asunto que no se como me podré reintegrar si no puedo hacer las cosas más básicas como transferirme, ir al baño sola.
Estoy muy triste la verdad y no se como continuar la vida así.

Hi all. I am planning to travel for vacation in a month. It will be the first time flying after my injury. I am quite nervous and have read a lot on reddit and other sites on others' experiences. Mostly I am worried about the airline damaging my chair and leaving me stranded and not being able to enjoy vacation. I am travelling with rigid manual chair.

I have requested aisle chair, window seat. I understand I should take down all removable parts including wheels and cushion and side guards and flip down the backrest. My questions are:

1. how should i store wheels? is it necessary to buy a bicycle wheel bag?
2. should I do anything extra to protect the frame/casters, like bubble wrap or pool noodles?
3. regarding TSA, i understand they will want a pat down if I cannot stand. I can stand with a walker and if someone stabilizes me a bit from behind. I am not bringing a walker. I can substitute a desk/table/counter of appropriate height for the walker for the purposes of standing, with help. Is it worth trying to stand for TSA? I am assuming no.

Would appreciate any tips/advice or your past experience. Thanks in advance.

Am c5/6 3 years in am just wondering what are you guys do for working? Like i creat content and work on facebook iam just want to know you guys limits that how you do things my hands are weak so i cant use laptop properly i want to do more but i dont know how to execute things. Please lmk what you guys do for work. Much appreciated and ty in advance

Hello all, so like many of us I have neurogenic bladder. For me, I have very extreme retention like I have had 1000+ccs of urine in my bladder pulled out when I didn’t have single use caths yet (hospital is a big one that books out for months in almost every department but is worth the wait usually).

Since then I’ve had a myriad of issues with cathing and my bladder being a bitch. So, my urologist and I discussed doing the Mitrofanoff procedure as the least invasive but most permanent and effective treatment.

I was curious, have others had this procedure? Can you tell me what it’s been like for you? Pros and cons and experience with the procedure itself?

If you were offered this procedure and didn’t go forward with it or opted into another procedure, why? Are there other treatments you’ve tried that have worked for you?

I just want to learn as much as possible before I commit to it because I know this is a big deal to do. Thanks!

Hello, transected bilateral s2 nerve after a fall from a tall height (also resulted in L5 being broken)

This accident was four years ago, so would I have any luck with the TOMAX procedure? I am a female, for reference. I have looked into nerve transfers or nerve grafts as well but Google says that after 18 or so months, the pathways for sexual function have completely died off. Also, would it be worth checking if I qualify for a neuromodulator for my bladder/bowel function?

Thank you!

If I do, what’s the best way to go about that in a timely manner. (I’m in SLC)

If not, what do I do?

hello!

it's my first heatwave since the spinal cord injury — has anyone noticed an increase in spasticity during extreme heat days?

i've had a week of crazy spasms i can't find a cause for (skin bladder, bowels are all okay), but i've just realised that it's also been about a week of 30°+, so i'm thinking that could be it?

also, i already drink plenty of water, i have AC, i feel cold/hot/sweaty the same way i did pre-SCI, and i don't have dysautomia issues, so if the spasms are weather related i really don't know what i could do about them, accepting all suggestions and bits of wisdom!

I suffered a spinal cord injury almost two years ago this July, and I wanted to ask if anyone here has managed to regain sensation in their bladder? I haven't recovered anything yet and I need to have a catheter inserted every 3 hours and diaper to avoid